Non-automatic acetylene-generator.



F. B. RAY.

NON-AUTOMATIC AOETYLENE GENERATOR.

APPLIoATloN FILED 11111.15, 1909.

Patented Dec. 6,1910.

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NoN-AUTOMATIC AUETYLBNB GENERATOR.

APPLIOATION FILED JAN.15,1909.

978,125. Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

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\ New York city, borough of Manhattan,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS B. RAY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO RAY ACETYLENE COMPANY, 0F ELKHART, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

NON-AUTOMATIC ACETYLENE-GENERATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

To all whom 'it may concern: l

Be it known that I, FRANCIS B. RAY, a citizen of the United States, and residin' at New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Non-Automatic Acetylene- Generators, of which the following is a full and clear specification, illustrated by the accompanying drawings, and the novelty of which is pointed out in the annexed claims. The novel feature of my generator is the use of a movable receptacle inside of the generator tank or chamber, the movement of which is controlled by hand from the outside allowing the carbid to be discharged therefrom at will into the water. I preferably use the commercial can of carbid which is placed through an aperture of the tank into a tiltino' cradle, by means of which the can is move The specification and the accompanying drawings describe and illustrate the generator adapted for cans of carbid such as are commercially used, but my invention is not limited to this form of can, as obviously any other form of carbid holder may be placed or fastened inside of the generating tank instead.

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of the gas generator partly in section; Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the middle portion of the generator on the line .fc-w in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a vertical section through a modification of the generator.

' In the modification shown in Figs. 1 and 2 the generator comprises a generator bell 1 open at the bottom and a cistern 2, preferably located in the ground, into which the bell 1 may be lowered by means of windlass 3. As shown in Fig. 1, for this purpose two vertical parallel rods 4 are fastened at their upper ends to a suitable beam 5 of the gas house ceiling and at their lower ends to a i d cross bar 6 fastened in cistern 2 at a suitclearly hereinafter.

able height, which will be defined more To bell 1 is fastened bail 7, on which the bell is suspended by means of rope 8 connected with windlass 3. The bell is vertically guided by rods A:L through lugs 9 fastened to the bell.

The detail structure of the generator bell which is shown in Fig. 2 in vertical section is as follows z-The bell 1 is substantially cone-shaped at the upper end and provided with an openinfr at the top which is closed by cover 10, he d to the top by means of wmg screws 11, so that it may be easily removed by hand. Near the upper end, before the bell contracts, is disposed a cradle 12, preferably made of fiat iron as illustrated, and held concentrically in the bell by means of rocking shafts 13. Rocking shafts 13 are journaled in the side walls of the bell on diametrically opposite sides, one of the shafts protruding through the wall of the bell where it is tightened against leakage of gas by means of stuing box 1li. To this protruding end of shaft 13 is fastened a hand-lever 15 which can be locked in any suitable angular position by means of latches 18 in notches 17 of sector 16 within the angle defined by said sector. Sector 16 may be fastened to the outside of the bell or chamber 1 in any suitable manner. It will be thus seen that by operating hand-lever 15 cradle 12 may be tilted andD held at any suitable angle within the limits of sector 16 shown in Fig. 1. Cradle 12 is of sufiicient size .to hold a can of carbid 19 such as are generally found in commercial use for supplying customers having acetylene plants for houselighting or the like. Such cans usually contain about one hundred pounds of carbid and are all of uniform size. Vhen the chamber 1 is to be charged with carbid such a can as described above is inserted through the top opening 20 of the chamber into the cradle 12 and prevented by spring latches 21 from falling out when the cradle is tilted. Then the cover of can 19 is unscrewed' and opening 20 of chamber 1 sealed by cover 10. The generator bell, or chamber 1, is suspended in the neck of cistern 2 in the manner described above at such a height that the water within chamber 1 will be at the level as shown in Fig. 2. If now the hand lever 15 is unlocked from sector 16 the can may be tilted at any suitable angle so as to discharge its contents into the water and on to the perforated bottom 22, which is provided near the bottom opening of chamber 1. On this bottom the carbid will decompose and the lime will drop throughthe perforations to the bottom of cistern 2. The gas rises into the upper portion of chamber 1 and is discharged through service pipe 23 protruding a suitable distance above the water level within chamber 1. Service pipe 23 extends downward into cistern 2 and is led through the side wall of it to the scrubber and gasometer not shown in the drawings. The can is tilted gradually, for instance, first to stand about horizontal so that it will discharge approximately one-third of its contents, then gradually step by step in intervals of about ten to fifteen minutes so as to give the carbid discharged on to bottom 22 time to decompose, until in this manner all the carbid is discharged from the can. Vhen the contents of the can is thus discharged and the can righted by throwing hand lever l5 back into the proper position,

it is ready to'be taken out to be substituted by a new can. In order to save the gas contained 1n the generator chamber above the water, which would escape when co-ver is opened, the whole generator bell l is preferably lowered by means of windlass 3 until it rests on cross rod 6 (Fig. l). In this position the greater part of the gas in the upper portion of the bell has been driven out through service pipev23. To allow generator l to be dropped to the desired depth unobstructed by service pipe 23, I provide an upper extension 24C in line with pipe 23 on the conical top of generator 1, which extension is closed at the top and suiiiciently long to receive the upper end of servicepipe 23 when the generator is lowered to its limit, as described above. This, as already explained, will drive the greater' portion of the gas out of the top of the generator and cover 10 may now be opened without a great loss of gas and the empty can be removed Aand substituted by a new can. Before inserting a new can, however, the generator bell should be raised again to its normal level shown in Figs. l and 2. After insertion of'a new can, the cover 10 is closed again and the apparatus is ready for further generation of gas. The air which has entered the upper portion ofthe bell while it was raised to its normal level with the cover 10 open will not ma. terially affect the quality of the gas, since this amount is very small proportionately with the large amount of pure gas contained in the large gasometers which are used for plants of this kind. After a number of cans have been discharged so that a large quantity of lime has collected at the bottom of cistern 2, it may be drawn off through flush gate 29, which may be operated for instance from the floor above the cistern by means of hand rod 30.

In Fig. 8 I have shown a modification in which the chamber 1 is not in the form of a bell as previously described, but forms a generator in itself closed at the bottom and kept filled with water approximately to the level shown in thisfigure by means of the stand-pipe 25. Below perforated bot-tom 22 isv arranged a flush gate 26 for discharging the lime and the water after av certain number of cans have been emptied in the generator. The generator may then be filled again with water through stand-pipe y ous that the advantage of Athis system is its y extreme simplicity. As already pointed out above, the direct handling of the carbid is thus entirely avoided. Moreover, the large sizes of carbid can be used in this machine, and a great number of cans may be emptied successively in the generatory wit-hout renewing the water and a very large quantity of g'as may be thus generated. A further advantage of using the commercial form of can directly as a carbid hopper is that if de-V sired the contents of such a can may be only partially discharged and the can may be righted so that the remainder of carbid in the can may stay there practically unimpaired by the moisture in the generator chamber.

This system is adapted to any sized plant. Two or more generators, or tanks of the form shown in the figures, may be used alternately and many hundred pounds of carbid may be used in a few hours for filling a very large gasometer.

I am well aware that generators with a bell open at the bottom and adapted to be lowered into a cistern are well-known in the art, and I do not claim these features as new.

That I claim is l. In a non-automatic acetylene generator, the combination with a tank adapted to contain water and having an opening at the top through which a commercial can of carbid may be inserted into the tank, a tilting cradle within said tank to receive said can means for discharging the residuum and water from the tank.

2. In a non-automatic acetylene generator, the combi-nation with a tank adapted to contain waterand having an opening at the top through which a commercial can of carbid may be inserted into the tank, a tilting cradle within said tank to, receive said can and retain itabove the surface of the water,w

means for rocking the cradle to discharge the carbid into the Water at will, a perforated bottomdisposed a suitable distance above the tank bottom, a standpipe of suitable height enterin the tank below said perforated bottom 01' feeding Water into the tank and for relieving by the rise or overflow of Water in said pipe the excess pressure produced by the eneration of gas,

means for discharging t e gas from the tank, and means for discharging the residudisintegration of carbid, constantly remov- 15 ing the residuum from thecarbid pieces as it is formed.

FRANCIS B. RAY.

WVitnesses H. ALFRED JANKE, OCTAVIUS KNIGHT. 

